


nothing you can tax

by dudski



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-19
Updated: 2012-06-19
Packaged: 2017-11-08 03:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/438460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dudski/pseuds/dudski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something is definitely wrong with Artemis, Ollie decides.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nothing you can tax

**Author's Note:**

> For blooming_cosmo's prompt "Artemis and Ollie, hanging out on the roof tops waiting for some crime" at the [Five Years Later](http://torigates.livejournal.com/341432.html) ficathon.

Something is definitely wrong with Artemis, Ollie decides. She’s been off all night, but now she’s caught her mark, fixed him to a wall with arrows through his jacket sleeves (Ollie generally doesn’t approve of firing anything that sharp at a human target, but she never misses, and it’s hard to do anything but trust her judgment when she’s saved his life more than once), and she isn’t even gloating. Normally she’d be in the guy’s face quipping while she excitedly verified how precise her aim had been, and none of that is happening.

He does a quick scan of the area to make sure he’s not overlooking an additional threat, but they’re clear. Whatever’s got her so tensed up, it’s not imminent danger.

Maybe she and Wally are fighting - it’s a given and unlikely at the same time, since for all that they needle each other and bicker constantly, they’ve clearly found a dynamic that works for them. (It’s really put the League’s betting pool to shame - Ollie’d bet on two years, which he’d thought was generously optimistic since almost everyone else stuck to various points in the first six months. Whenever it comes up at meetings, Dinah and Barry, the only ones still in the running, high-five and look smug.)

God, he hopes it’s not a Wally thing. Ollie gets a kick out of pulling the whole “I could kill you and make it look like an accident” thing, but he really doesn’t have time to go down to Central City this week, and besides, intimidation doesn’t have the same impact when Wally just grins and says he's glad Ollie's looking out for her.

She doesn’t even crack a smile when the cops show up to cuff the guy and take him away, and that’s just wrong. His favorite thing about working with Artemis, the thing that makes him proudest, is how excited she is to be doing tangible good, _any_ tangible good. She’s saved the world a fair few times by now - with the League, with her team, even, that one time, all by herself - but she still gets just as much satisfaction out of patrolling and catching lone criminals as she did when he met her, when she was working solo and didn’t care what she did as long as she helped someone.

The last straw comes at the end of the night, when he botches the jump off a fire escape, stumbling gracelessly after landing, and she doesn’t laugh, doesn’t call him an old man or ask if they’d stayed out too late for him, just glances over her shoulder and says “You okay?”

“Fine,” he tells her, reaching back to straighten his quiver. “Are _you_ okay?”

She starts a little at that. “I’m fine,” she says, “since I actually know how to stick a landing.”

“Yeah, teen ninja, I remember. You’re just acting like there’s something on your mind.”

“Right. That. Well. I was going to wait until we got back to the zeta to talk to you about this, but...I got into Stanford.”

“Congratulations, that’s incredible! Is it your first choice? Are you definitely going? What are you studying?”

“Yes, yes, and I’m not sure,” she says, and he can tell she’s pleased by his reaction, but there’s still something bothering her.

“And hey, you’ll only be what, an hour from here? Oh,” he realizes, “is it the distance that’s bothering you? Because, I mean, between zeta tubes and superspeed, I’m sure you and Wally will see plenty of each other, you’ll be fine.”

“He’s coming with me, actually. We talked about the distance thing, and he’s gotten comfortable enough with cross-country runs that it really wouldn’t have been a problem as long as I kept protein shakes on hand, but we both got in, so it’s kind of a non-issue now.”

“So what’s got you so worried? That all sounds like great news.”

She takes a deep breath. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you,” she says, “but we talked about it, and we want a normal college experience, you know? We just want to focus on our lives and our future and take the time to figure everything out without flying off somewhere to get shot at every other week, so...we’re quitting the team.”

“Sounds reasonable,” he says. “So what, weekly dinners instead of weekly patrols? Maybe not weekly, I know your independence is going to be a big thing, but I doubt Wally will object to a free meal, and Dinah’s not going to let you guys live that close and not check in regularly, so it’s going to need to be monthly at least.”

“Seriously?” She gapes at him. “You’d be fine with just...subbing training out for weekly dinners?”

“It’ll be great - dinner’s more relaxing, doesn’t ever involve stakeouts in the rain, and besides, maybe if you’re around the house more Roy will stop kidding himself that we don’t already know about him and Jade and bring her by for once. What?” he asks, because she’s still gaping.

“Nothing,” she says, “I just...I don’t know, I figured you’d be disappointed, or mad, or upset that I’m quitting. You’ve put a lot of time and effort into training me, and Dinah has too, I feel like I’m letting you guys down by walking away from the fight.”

“First of all, you’re going to Stanford, and I’d have to be out of my mind to be _disappointed_ in you with all that you’ve accomplished,” he tells her. “And Artemis, you were an incredible kid when I met you, and I’ve watched you and tried to help you grow into an even more incredible person. I know that with or without a costume, you’re going to do a lot of good in the world, and you’re never going to let me down just because you’re doing it without a bow and arrow.”

“That’s...thanks,” she mumbles, smiling down at the ground.

“Besides,” he says as they approach the zeta phone booth, “I’ve met you. I’m sure you’ll feel the urge to kick a mugger in the face every once in a while, so when it strikes, give me a call, and we’ll hit the rooftops.”

“Deal,” she tells him. “So...see you next week?”

“You bet,” he says, and she’s grinning as she closes the door.


End file.
